Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c20.2

c20.2

The Kuṇḍalinī Yoga makes large use of the doctrine of the union of Śiva and Śakti; that is, it swings around the idealization of the experience of the ecstasy that arises in creative union. From the lowest centre (the mūlādhāra) to the place of final bliss (in the sahasrāra), each level, conceived of as a place of enjoyment, is symbolically the station of a god and a goddess; and at each of the stages in her ascent, the Śakti drinks the nectar of the crescent moon. Back and above this dual concept is that of the ardhanārī. The discipline of the Yoga, in so far as it concerns the lifting of Kuṇḍalinī from her place in the mūlādhāra to the region of the bindu, the nectar of the moon, which lies in the hollow above the throat, may be described as a series of manipulations of bodily functions, physical exercises and with accompanying mental concentrations, whose physical and psychical reactions are interpreted in supernatural terms as enjoyment of the Lord (Śiva) by Śakti. The thrills, or ecstasies, engendered by excitations all along the suṣumṇā, are regarded as religious experiences.¹ In this aspect of the system the female creative energy is raised to higher and higher levels in the body and experiences of union in succeeding cakras become more and more subtle.